MIT groups set to hold Rape Awareness Week

By Neil J. Ross

In an attempt to raise the consciousness of the MIT community to the
question of rape, a week-long event designed to involve hundreds of MIT
students is being organized for the week of Oct. 2. This Rape Awareness
Week is jointly sponsored by the Association of Women Students and the
newly-formed Rape Awareness and Prevention Program.

With broad publicity (including a booth in Lobby 10) the event could
provide the same sort of rallying point for the fledgling Rape Awareness
and Prevention Program as the April 9 March on Washington provided for the
Association for Women Students, according to organizer Michelle Bush '91.

Organizers of Rape Awareness Week hope to reach the whole MIT community,
extending beyond an exclusively female audience. As Fred Pelka, a founder
of the Boston/Cambridge Men Against Sexual Assault (MESA) pointed out, it
is important "that men see other men raising concerns about rape." Kim
Morrison of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center also noted that anti-rape
campaigns tend to start where the job is easiest: that is among women.

MESA has strong MIT connections with three out of the ten active
volunteers being MIT students who participate in the educational speaking
and presentation engagements, according to Pelka.

Scheduled activities will include a men's forum on Wednesday of next
week, which is designed to raise men's awareness of the questions involved.
A panel discussion focusing on the issue of date rape is also planned. The
panel will include Cheryl Vossmer of the MIT Campus Police Crime Prevention
Unit and Ann Russo from the Women's Studies Program. Other activities
include a self-defense class, a dance, and a movie.

This Rape Awareness Week is part of a mood of rising concern over rape on
campuses. The FBI recorded a 4.9 percent increase in reported rapes
nationally from 1987 to 1988.

Northeastern University Professor William Kay, who was involved in
coordinating a series of talks by MESA for male freshmen in the School of
Criminal Justice at Northeastern, noted that often programs are aimed at
precautions which inhibit women's freedom. The MIT event will end with a
demonstration, "Take Back the Night," highlighting the restrictions women
feel in city environments.

MIT Campus Police have seen the brutal effects of rape, according to
Chief of Police Anne P. Glavin. Glavin, in her 15 years at MIT, has had to
deal with victims. "You are dealing with a person in crisis ... [who] feels
violated, victimized, embarrassed and ... [wrongly] guilty," she said.

In order to prevent a repeat of these experiences, the Campus Police have
been running a night-time escort service on campus since the early 1970's,
and last year carried out about 7000 escorts. There are also 18 distinctive
blue direct line telephones on campus for emergency use.

In addition, three out of seventeen items in the freshman crime
prevention package, due to be distributed after Columbus Day, are on the
subject of rape. And every female Campus Police officer receives special
training in dealing with rape victims.